About INDIA

About INDIA

INDIA (Bhārat), officially the Republic of INDIA, is a sovereign nation in South Asia. It is the seventh largest country by geographical area, the second most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the south, the Arabian Sea on the west, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, INDIA has a coastline of 7,517 kilometers (4,671 mi). It borders Pakistan to the west; China, Nepal, and Bhutan to the north-east; and Bangladesh and Burma to the east. In the Indian Ocean, INDIA is in the vicinity of Sri Lanka, Maldives, and Indonesia.

Four major world religions, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism and Sikhism originated here, while Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity and Islam arrived in the first millennium CE and shaped the region's diverse culture. Gradually annexed by the British East INDIA Company from the early eighteenth century and colonized by the United Kingdom from the mid-nineteenth century, INDIA became a modern nation state in 1947 after a struggle for independence that was marked by widespread nonviolent resistance.

INDIA is the world's twelfth largest economy at market exchange rates and the third largest economy in purchasing power. Economic reforms have transformed it into the second fastest growing large economy. A pluralistic, multilingual, and multiethnic society, INDIA is also home to a diversity of wildlife in a variety of protected habitats.

Independence and Republic of INDIA

During the first half of the twentieth century, a nationwide struggle for independence was launched by the Indian National Congress and other political organizations. In the 1920s and 1930, a movement led by Mahatma Gandhi, and displaying commitment to ahimsa, or non-violence, millions of protesters engaged in mass campaigns of civil disobedience. Finally, on 15 August 1947, INDIA gained independence from British rule, but was partitioned, in accordance to wishes of the Muslim League, along the lines of religion to create the Islamic nation state of Pakistan. Three years later, on 26 January 1950, INDIA became a republic and a new constitution came into effect.